> > Maybe going through the "Introduction to Emacs Lisp" (see "Help => > > More Manual => Introduction to Emacs Lisp" in the menu) will be helpful. > > Can you make clear what sections should I read to answer my question? Please understand that you don't have one question. You have 8 zillion. Nothing wrong with having lots of questions. But many that you have would be answered by reading some of that manual - I'm sure of that - 100%. It's an "introduction". It starts at the beginning. And that's where _you_ should start, for maximum benefit. It may seem easier to toss every question over the fence without a basic understanding. But sooner or later you might find that the answers you get may be thinner and thinner. More preparation usually gets rewarded with better questions and then better answers. The best thing you can do to help yourself is to learn to Ask Emacs. Asking Emacs includes taking advantage of its documentation - just as much as its communities here & there. The manuals come with good indexes - use `i' (with completion). You're looking for info about `list', it sounds like. Make friends with `i'. You'll still have friends here, and you may even be more likely to keep them. ;-) Other than `i', you're shown the Table of Contents at the outset. The VERY FIRST topic in the TOC, after `Preface', is `List Processing'. Sound like a good place to start? Click it... 1 List Processing ***************** To the untutored eye, Lisp is a strange programming language. In Lisp code there are parentheses everywhere. Some people even claim that the name stands for “Lots of Isolated Silly Parentheses”. But the claim is unwarranted. Lisp stands for LISt Processing, and the programming language handles _lists_ (and lists of lists) by putting them between parentheses. The parentheses mark the boundaries of the list. Sometimes a list is preceded by an apostrophe ‘'’, called a “single-quote” in Lisp.(1) Lists are the basis of Lisp. * Menu: * Lisp Lists:: What are lists? * Run a Program:: Any list in Lisp is a program ready to run. * Making Errors:: Generating an error message. * Names & Definitions:: Names of symbols and function definitions. * Lisp Interpreter:: What the Lisp interpreter does. * Evaluation:: Running a program. * Variables:: Returning a value from a variable. * Arguments:: Passing information to a function. * set & setq:: Setting the value of a variable. * Summary:: The major points. * Error Message Exercises::